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Letters from the Doghouse: Types of border obedience: Which dog do you own?

By Chandra Lynn Smith

Letters from the Doghouse

Posted:
04/18/2014 11:05:51 AM EDT

Last week, I promised to look at the come command and boundary training in the next couple of columns. Let's start this most difficult of command with a little tongue-in-cheek look at our dogs. Take a look at the dogs in our household since 1984.

Note= for clarification purposes so no one gets angered . . . a 'good dogs' is one who obeys, a 'stupid dog' doesn't. Because, if we are honest that's how we feel about them sometimes. No dog is stupid. Honest.

Daniel was a yellow Labrador. He was a good dog — once he stopped being a 'stupid dog.' He thought yard boundaries were only suggestions and certainly didn't apply if he had something else in mind. And, the COME command? Well, it really only meant he should come when called if he had nothing better to do. Daniel would look directly at me when I called. I could almost see him hold up his paw and say "In a minute, Mom, I'm busy."

SMITH

Lucas was a yellow Labrador. You guess it, he was a good dog — once he stopped being a stupid dog. He didn't run away. He didn't chase cars. He just didn't come. He was the king of selective hearing. He would look directly at us when we whistled, then turn away and go back to what he was doing. Honest, I think if he could have talked his excuse would have been, "But, Mom, I never heard you whistle."

Jasper was a black Labrador. He was a good dog — once he stopped being a 'stupid dog.' Jasper was amazing when responding to the come command. He could be at the bottom of the field and when one of us whistled he turned and ran full speed to us. Sounds OK, right? Trouble is, he wandered to the bottom of the field, into the woods, to the neighbors' yards, whenever he wanted. I think he believed if he came when we called, he wandering was acceptable.

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Our thirteen year-old black Labrador, Jake, is a good dog. But, he combined all of the previous three dogs' bad traits into the epitome of a stupid dog. He wandered, played deaf, finished what he was doing, and pitched fights with any dogs that got in his way.

Penny, you've all read about her. She's the bull terrier mix. Some days she's a good dog, others, not so much. Penny knows what COME means. She knows her boundaries. She has stopped taking off on wanders. But, she is a TERRIER. The instinct to hunt rodents is huge. And we have a lot of rabbits and squirrels around here.

I love my dogs. And, at some point in each of their days of immaturity I wondered why I love them. Most of the things I teach you come from experience with 'stupid dogs.' Given time and training EVERY dog can become a 'good dog.' Honest.

Chandra Lynn Smith owns Best Friend Dog Training. She holds a bachelor's degree in animal bioscience, has eight years experience as a veterinary technician, and is a certified professional dog trainer from the National K9 School of Dog Trainers. She's been training dogs since 1984. You may address your questions to her via email at ChandraLynnS@gmail.com, BestFriendDogTrn@aol.com or by mail to The Evening Sun, c/o Chandra Lynn Smith, 135 Baltimore St., Hanover, PA 17331.